1269_UgliesFreeBook

224 Scott Westerfeld
Shay smiled, taking her hand. “As you got closer to
your birthday, you decided you wanted to run away. But in
the meantime, you met someone. Someone important. The
same someone who gave you that heart necklace. So you
broke your promise to me. You told that someone where
you were going.”
“Um, kind of,” Tally managed.
Shay giggled. “I knew it. That’s why you’ve been all
nervous. You want to be here, but you also wish you were
somewhere else. With someone else. And before you ran
away, you left directions, a copy of my note, in case your
new heartthrob wants to join us. Am I right or am I right?”
Tally bit her lip. Shay’s face glowed in the moonlight,
obviously thrilled with herself for figuring out Tally’s big
secret. “Uh, you’re partly right.”
“Oh, Tally.” Shay grabbed both her shoulders. “Don’t
you see that it’s okay? I mean, I did the same thing.”
Tally frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone I was coming here.
David made me promise I wouldn’t even tell you.”
“Why?”
Shay nodded. “He hadn’t met you, and wasn’t sure if he
could trust you. Normally, runaways only recruit old
friends, people they’ve tricked with for years. But I’d only
known you since the beginning of summer. And I never
once mentioned the Smoke to you until the day before I
left. I was never brave enough, in case you said no.”